e-Fellows

The e-Learning Teacher Fellowship programme reflects the ministry’s commitment to quality teaching and increasing the use of effective e-learning strategies in schools and early childhood centres. A group of innovative educators are given release time from the classroom and support to research an aspect of their innovative e-learning practice.

Due to a reprioritisation of resources and support for schools, the programme will not continue after the end of 2009. The 2009 e-fellows will complete their fellowship and the research team (CORE Education with NZCER) will submit their completed research report in January 2010.

2009 e-fellows

The Ministry of Education has announced ten e-fellows for 2009:

• Claire Amos, Auckland Girls’ Grammar School: Increasing engagement and achievement in formal writing through collaborating using wikis.
• Tia Fraser, Hira School, Nelson: Promoting deeper understanding through reflecting on video recordings of students’ dramatisations of a story text.
• Robyn Hurliman, Owhata School, Rotorua: Collaborative storytelling through translating the concept of literacy circles into blogging.
• Marion Lumley, Otaki College, Waikanae: Explanation writing through blogging with online mentors.
• Virginia Mitchell, Pekerau School, Ohaupo: Retelling stories using Voicethread and other web2.0 tools and sharing them with an audience.
• Helen Rennie-Younger, Sunnybrae Normal School, Auckland: Transferring students’ oral stories into multimedia presentations and sharing with an audience via the classroom blog.
• Deidre Senior, Oamaru Intermediate: More able readers support less able readers through blogging about texts to enhance comprehension.
• Marilyn Small, Manaia View School, Whangarei: Investigating the impact of an authentic audience on students’ engagement through producing content for a regional TV station.
• Sue Smith, Whangaparaoa College, Auckland: Using the interactive game Myst to engage reluctant writers in creative writing.
• Esmay Sutherland, Pine Hill School, Dunedin: Fostering students as authors by using animation to retell movie narratives.

The 2009 e-fellows, supported through the fellowship, will explore an aspect of their e-learning practice and share their findings with the teacher community. The theme for e-fellows’ projects in 2009 is literacy.

e-Fellows will receive individual, specialised support from researchers from CORE Education and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research to develop a short but in-depth classroom-based inquiry project. They will collaborate with other e-fellows in stimulating and supportive professional learning workshops and contribute to research investigating common themes across the e-fellows’ projects.

The fellowship will run over the first three terms of 2009. e-Fellows will receive 15 days of teacher release time, broadband at home for the period of the fellowship, and funding to attend a major national conference.

Follow the 2009 e-fellows on their wiki.

Research published by previous years' e-fellows can be found on the e-fellows website.